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POWELL, Wyoming — There’s gold in them thar hills of California, and the Northwest College Forensics Team has the trophies to prove it.
The team struck gold with a first-place finish among all two-year colleges competing in the prestigious Western States Communication Association Forensics Tournament Feb. 26-28 in San Diego, California.
On top of that, the NWC team took silver in the overall competition against all 14 college and university teams who participated.
Eight students from the team made the trip to San Diego, and every one placed in two or more events, making this one of NWC’s most successful tournaments ever.
“To have every student place is a big deal,” Jeannie Hunt said, “but to have them all place in at least two events is unprecedented.” Hunt coaches the NWC Forensics Team, along with Bob Becker and Greg Thomas.
Many of the students also took top honors in their categories.
Josey Nickles of Powell claimed an individual gold in prose and was named the top junior prose speaker. She finished fourth in program oral interpretation and was also named the top junior competitor in program oral interpretation.
Clint Cordova of Byron was named the top junior drama competitor and also scored top junior honors in duet. He placed second in after dinner speaking, fourth in poetry and third in drama and duet.
Another student earning top honors was Emily Myers of Worland. She was named the top junior communication analysis competitor and also scored fourth in duet and sixth in communication analysis.
Meghan Patton of Rock Springs shared top honors in duet with Cordova and took thirds in poetry and duet, and fourths in drama and junior extemporaneous speaking.
Jarelly Castro of Greybull took fourth in informative speaking and sixth in persuasive speaking. Powellitte Bianca Larsen grabbed a pair of fifth places in informative speaking and junior extemporaneous speaking.
Nora Minch of Billings, Montana, placed fourth in duet, fifth in drama and seventh in prose. Taylor Moles of Paris, Texas, took fifth in junior impromptu and seventh in communication analysis and in after dinner speaking.
The Patton and Moles debate team and the Larsen and Nickles team both broke into quarter finals tying for fourth place in junior parliamentary debate.
The NWC team will travel next to the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament March 18-20 in Long Beach, California.